Solution

[1] took hard disks off the system one-by-one until found out the problem was caused by the SiI3512A SATA RAID-controller.

penetrode wrote that this may also be due to bad CFLAGS settings. Although the current GRUB ebuild filters out-fstack-protector, it can't hurt to recompile GRUB with clean CFLAGS if nothing else helps.

(hd0,0) must be replaced with your boot partition and (hd0) with the HDD you have chosen. Remember that (hd0) will install the bootloader in the Master Boot Record of the first hard disk, the primary master.

Grub Error 15

Situation

This error can occur in two different stages of the GRUB configuration, either during the initial configuration (installing GRUB in the master boot record) or after booting the system and attempting to launch Linux (or any other entry).

Solution - Initial Configuration

This error is returned if the specified file name cannot be found, but everything else (like the disk/partition info) is OK.

Frequently, the error notes a missing kernel image file. Make sure that the file it is referring to exists on your boot partition.

To find out the exact name of your kernel, boot from the installation cd, mount your root and (if applicable) boot partition. Next, chroot into your Gentoo system and do a listing of the available files to see what kernel images you have available:

root #cd /boot

root #ls

This will list all the kernels that you've got on your boot partition. If your kernel is missing make sure that you compiled a kernel (using genkernel or manually):

root #cd /usr/src/linux/

root #make menuconfig

root #make

And that you copied it to your boot partition:

root #cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot

Verify that the name of the kernel is exactly the same as the one mentioned in your grub.conf file. Also make sure that the kernel line in your grub.conf file is referring to that partition (either explicitly or implicitly).

Another reported mistake is to have the BIOS ignore the disk on which the kernel or GRUB stages reside. Also, the partition on which GRUB stores its stages should not use a software RAID-5 (or other striping technology) configuration.

Solution - Booting an Entry

First, verify that the root and setup lines you have used are correct.

If you are certain they are valid, then you might be using a flawed GRUB version (0.93.20031222). Upgrade your Portage tree or mask this version of GRUB:

Grub Error 18

Situation

Solution

This error is returned when a read is attempted at a linear block address beyond the end of the BIOS translated area. This generally happens if your disk is larger than the BIOS can handle (512MB for (E)IDE disks on older machines or larger than 8GB in general).

Try an update for your BIOS and/or move your boot partition to the front (or at least into the appropriate range).

Solution

Missing Grub Image

Situation

When booting the system, you do not see that spify Gentoo splashscreen.

Solution

First of all check if the splashscreen file you are referring to in your grub.conf really exists. If that is the case, go and check the GRUB ebuild. Maybe the patch for the splash image is commented out in the version that you are using.

Failing To Boot Windows From a Second Harddrive

Situation

After selecting the Windows entry, the system refuses to boot without any clear reason as to why.

Solution

cyrillic informed us that you can "map" your disks in a different order by changing your grub.conf 's Windows entry like so:

Grub segfaults when trying to install

Situation

The situation described below is only relevant for grub-0.95.x at the moment of installing GRUB at the boot sector.

grub>root (hd0,0)

grub>setup (hd0)

Segmentation fault

Solution

This is a known bug related to this problem and has been fixed in grub-0.96. It is also known that grub-0.94-r1 and grub-0.94-r2 should work correctly. If that fails too, you can try to emerge grub-static which is currently stable on amd64 and unstable on x86 (~x86). Check out bug #79378 for additional information.

This article is based on a document formerly found on our main website gentoo.org. The following people have contributed to the original document: Hartwig Brandl, Ioannis Aslanidis, Sven VermeulenThey are listed here as the Wiki history does not provide for any attribution. If you edit the Wiki article, please do not add yourself here, your contributions are recorded on the history page.